(PDF) (DOC) (JPG)December 3, 2007

(Mahwah) – Ramapo College of New Jersey, in conjunction with its Italian cinema course, will present a series of Italian language films this spring.  The featured films represent classics by internationally known Italian directors as well as more recent productions.  Admission is free and open to the public.  Dr. Rosetta D’Angelo, professor of Italian studies, will coordinate the series.  All of the films will be shown at 6:30 p.m. in the H-Wing Auditorium located in the H-Wing academic building.  A discussion follows each screening.  The schedule is as follows:

January 23:  The Bicycle Thief, 1948, directed by Vittorio De Sica
Perhaps the single most important and moving film of Italian neo-realism, The Bicycle Thief tells the deceptively simple story of an unemployed man finding work to paste up signs, work requiring a bicycle, which is then stolen.

February 6:  La Strada, 1954, directed by Federico Fellini
One of Fellini’s most poetic and powerful films, it features extraordinary performances by Giulietta Masina and Anthony Quinn.  A naïve waif is sold to a traveling-show strong man.

February 20:  Seduced and Abandoned, 1963, directed by Pietro Germi
One of the funniest Italian films, this comedy is about the oblique machinations of the Sicilian “code of honor.”  A madcap chain of events, seductions and revelations mock the hypocrisy of social conventions.

March 5: Bread and Chocolate, 1974, directed by Franco Brusati
Nino Manfredi stars as an Italian immigrant struggling to make a life in the difficult Teutonic world of Switzerland.  This comic “Everyman” finds himself forced into ever more degrading situations, but he never gives up.  The result is a comedy with an intense feeling of pathos.

March 26:  Ciao, Professore, 1993, directed by Lina Wertmuller
This comedy details the outrageous clash between a strict, no-nonsense teacher and his class of rambunctious, street-smart children.  Ultimately it’s the teacher who ends up learning more about life from his charges than the other way around.

April 8:  Pane e Tulipani (Bread and Tulips), 2000, directed by Silvio Soldini
Rosalba is a housewife in Pescara with teenage sons, married since 21 to a plumbing supplier whose mistress is her sister-in-law.  When a tour bus leaves her, and her husband calls her to stay put, she rebels slightly and hitchhikes toward home, deciding on a whim to continue to Venice.  Will duty and maternal instinct win out, or will Rosalba stay in Venice, combining Rome’s rationality with Greece’s imagination to find her true Italian self?

April 23:  Once you are born, you can no longer hide, 2005, directed by Marco Tullio
Giordana
Sandro, the 12-year-old son of a young businessman from Brescia, goes off with his father and one of his father’s friends to cruise on a yacht in the Mediterranean.  One night the boy falls overboard and is saved by Radu, a Romanian boy who is trying to reach Italy on a “junk” full of illegal immigrants.  Sandro’s grateful parents offer to adopt Radu and his sister Alina, but as soon as the occasion arises, the two children rob them and run away.  Sandro’s conscience give him no peace and he goes by himself to Milan, where he manages to raise Alina in a disused factory occupied by immigrants:  then he will have to face a new and terrible truth.

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About Ramapo College

Ramapo College of New Jersey is the state’s premier public liberal arts college and is committed to academic excellence through interdisciplinary and experiential learning, and international and intercultural understanding. The comprehensive college is situated among the beautiful Ramapo Mountains, is within commuting distance to New York City, was named one of the 50 Most Beautiful College Campuses in America by CondeNast Traveler, and boasts the best on-campus housing in New Jersey per Niche.com. Established in 1969, Ramapo College offers bachelor’s degrees in the arts, business, data science, humanities, social sciences and the sciences, as well as in professional studies, which include business, education, nursing and social work. In addition, the College offers courses leading to teacher certification at the elementary and secondary levels, and offers graduate programs leading to master’s degrees in Accounting, Applied Mathematics, Business Administration, Contemporary Instructional Design, Computer Science, Creative Music Technology, Data Science, Educational Leadership, Nursing, Social Work and Special Education, as well as a Doctor of Nursing Practice.

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